kir238

Q: Too slow mac mini  for  i5 8gb?

My i5 8gb macmini late 2014  is intolerably slow.   Any program needs minutes to start.  While switching to other program I see its menubar on the top or side panels,  in case of Photoshop, and the rest of a program  appears in 20-30 seconds after.

Even 'About this Mac" info appears in a half of a minute.    Many programs  suddenly get frozen with a circling thing on a screen  for too long while doing nothing especially heavy.

 

While I understand that mini is not hi-end Apple product , still  a comparable desktop PC on my end (i7, 8gb  ram, cheap video) works just fine.

 

Could somebody point  me a direction what to check , a method of diagnostic, a performance test  to compare or something to start from and figure out what's actually wrong.   Imo it shouldn't be that bad.  

 

I bought it last year, doubt it outlived its hard drive. Was that slow from very beginning  . I'd hardly used it because of that.

OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), null

Posted on Sep 23, 2016 5:44 PM

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Q: Too slow mac mini  for  i5 8gb?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by den.thed,Helpful

    den.thed den.thed Sep 24, 2016 3:57 AM in response to kir238
    Level 7 (27,748 points)
    Sep 24, 2016 3:57 AM in response to kir238

    If you've been using another computer that has an SSD, then running one with a 5400rpm HDD is going to feel a lot slower. Additionally if you install any AV software or third party cleaning App's on a Mac, then it will bog down and be pretty much unusable.

     

    If you want to find out what is really going on with your Mac...? Run > http://etrecheck.com/ and post back here with the report.

  • by kir238,

    kir238 kir238 Sep 23, 2016 8:08 PM in response to den.thed
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 23, 2016 8:08 PM in response to den.thed

    Thank you for your help.     I do have AV installed.   Is it really that much useless?     Same AV does pretty nice job on my Windows PC.    Is  there any official Apple response  to  AV using issue?                    

     

    The check program you suggested tells my performance is in fact "excellent" and everything is just fine.     So I guess you are  right, it's 5400 rpm   and I just forgot how it is on an old fashioned HDD.

     

    Wonder if I can transfer  my mac OS to a thunderbolt connected outer SSD somehow?   Is there a designated soft for that?    Is it possible at all from a license point of view?     

  • by John Galt,Solvedanswer

    John Galt John Galt Sep 24, 2016 3:58 AM in response to kir238
    Level 9 (50,369 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 3:58 AM in response to kir238

    Back up your Mac if you have not done so already. To learn how to do that please read https://www.apple.com/support/backup/. To learn how to use Time Machine read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac.

     

    Then, shut down your Mac and restart it in "Safe Mode". To learn how to do that please read: Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up. Compare how your Mac works in Safe Mode to how it has been.

     

    Then, restart normally. If the same problem returns, please read the section If an issue doesn't happen in safe mode for Apple's recommended actions.

     

    Finally, you can temporarily create a new User Account, and log in to that account to determine if the problem also exists when logged in to that Account. To learn how to do that read How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support. When you are finished troubleshooting, you can remove the temporary User Account by following these instructions: OS X El Capitan: Delete a user. Before removing it, confirm you don't need any of the files you might have created in that Account.

     

    Let me know what you determine.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 24, 2016 1:01 AM in response to kir238
    Level 10 (190,672 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 24, 2016 1:01 AM in response to kir238

    Post the results of EtreCheck

  • by kir238,

    kir238 kir238 Sep 26, 2016 9:13 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 26, 2016 9:13 AM in response to John Galt

    I did a new account and it did help, everything worked  a lot speedier for a couple of day, with the same AV installed.     Now it looks like starting to slow down again.     Not as bad as in my initial account although.  Maybe it's just a subjective impression, I am not sure.

     

    Wonder if 8-10 seconds to open " System preferences"   is normal considering 5400rpm HDD?   On my Windows PC desktop similar thing (Control panel) appears just instantly , maybe in a half of a second.

     

    ps. Well, it's actually 20 sec to open "System preferences" for freshly rebooted Mini. So I guess I am coming to the point from where I started.

  • by kir238,

    kir238 kir238 Sep 26, 2016 9:23 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 26, 2016 9:23 AM in response to lllaass

    EtreCheck version: 3.0.5 (309)

    Report generated 2016-09-26 19:18:09

    Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

    Runtime 2:15

    Performance: Excellent

     

    Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

    Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

     

    Problem: Computer is too slow

     

    Hardware Information:

        Mac mini (Late 2014)

        [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

        Mac mini - model: Macmini7,1

        1 2,6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

        8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

            BANK 0/DIMM0

                4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

            BANK 1/DIMM0

                4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

        Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

        Wireless: Unknown

    Video Information:

        Intel Iris

            IPS236        1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

     

    System Software:

        OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G1004) - Time since boot: less than an hour

     

    Disk Information:

        APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

            Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 998.98 GB (526.92 GB free)

                Core Storage: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online

     

    USB Information:

        Wacom Co.,Ltd. CTH-670

        Apple Inc. Magic Keyboard

        Apple, Inc. IR Receiver

        Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

        Microsoft Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000

     

    Thunderbolt Information:

        Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

     

    Gatekeeper:

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    Kernel Extensions:

            /Library/Extensions

        [loaded]    com.symantec.internetSecurity.kext (6.5.1 - SDK 10.11 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.symantec.ips.kext (6.5.1 - SDK 10.11 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.symantec.nfm.kext (6.5.1 - SDK 10.11 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

     

            /Library/Extensions/HuaweiDataCardDriver_10_9.kext/Contents/PlugIns

        [not loaded]    com.MBB.driver.MBBACMData (5.01.01.00 - SDK 10.8 - 2013-10-22) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.MBB.driver.MBBActivateDriver (5.01.00 - SDK 10.8 - 2013-10-22) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.MBB.driver.MBBEthernetData (5.01.01.00 - SDK 10.8 - 2013-10-22) [Support]

     

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [not loaded]    com.Megafon1KY.driver.YotaDevices (1.0.3 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.Quanta.driver.QuantaDriver (1.0.3 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.Yota1KY.driver.YotaDevices (1.0.3 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.corel.painter.PainterAudioDriver (1.0 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.wacom.kext.pentablet (Pen Tablet 5.3.6-6 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-09-26) [Support]

     

    Startup Items:

        HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr

        Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

     

    System Launch Agents:

        [not loaded]    6 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    168 Apple tasks

        [running]    65 Apple tasks

     

    System Launch Daemons:

        [not loaded]    45 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    161 Apple tasks

        [running]    84 Apple tasks

     

    Launch Agents:

        [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-09-23) [Support]

        [running]    com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2016-05-24) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.symantec.errorreporter-periodicagent.NFM.plist (2016-09-19) [Support]

        [running]    com.symantec.uiagent.application.NFM.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

        [running]    com.wacom.pentablet.plist (2014-12-23) [Support]

     

    Launch Daemons:

        [running]    com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2016-09-23) [Support]

        [running]    com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2016-08-17) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-09-02) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.skype.skypeinstaller.plist (2016-09-18) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.symantec.SymLUHelper.NFM.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.symantec.UninstallerToolHelper.plist (2016-05-24) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.symantec.deepsight-extractor.NFM.plist (2015-09-12) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.symantec.errorreporter-periodic.NFM.plist (2016-09-19) [Support]

        [failed]    com.symantec.liveupdate.daemon.NFM.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

        [running]    com.symantec.nfm.wps.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

        [running]    com.symantec.sharedsettings.NFM.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

        [running]    com.symantec.symdaemon.NFM.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

     

    User Launch Agents:

        [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-09-25) [Support]

     

    User Login Items:

        iTunesHelper    Application  (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

     

    Internet Plug-ins:

        QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-26)

        Unity Web Player: UnityPlayer version 5.2.0f3 - SDK 10.6 (2015-11-16) [Support]

        AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-23) [Support]

        Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-26)

     

    Safari Extensions:

        Norton Security - Symantec Corporation - http://www.norton.com/mac (2016-09-25)

        DuckDuckGo - DuckDuckGo - http://duckduckgo.com (2016-09-25)

        Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (2016-09-25)

        WOT - WOT Services Ltd - http://www.mywot.com/ (2016-09-25)

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes:

        PenTablet (2016-09-26) [Support]

     

    Time Machine:

        Time Machine not configured!

     

    Top Processes by CPU:

             3%    WindowServer

             2%    fontd

             1%    kernel_task

             0%    Adobe CEF Helper(3)

             0%    Creative Cloud

     

    Top Processes by Memory:

        803 MB    Google Chrome Helper(4)

        745 MB    kernel_task

        369 MB    mdworker(13)

        344 MB    SymDaemon

        336 MB    Safari

     

    Virtual Memory Information:

        2.72 GB    Free RAM

        5.28 GB    Used RAM (2.78 GB Cached)

        0 B    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information:

        Sep 26, 2016, 07:05:33 PM    Self test - passed

     

        Standard users cannot read /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports.

        Run as an administrator account to see more information.

     

     

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 26, 2016 9:41 AM in response to kir238
    Level 10 (190,672 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 26, 2016 9:41 AM in response to kir238

    First I would uninstall Norton Security - Symantec antivirus following the developer's instructions.

    Next disconnect the Wacom tablet since those sometime cause problems